Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance 2(163)

Keyonna hated herself for what she was doing. She shouldn’t have come here. She’d assured Nick so many times that it didn’t matter. Her memory would return in due course. And if not, then whatever. Her life was perfect now, why worry about a closed chapter when a new one was already being written? She had a wonderful marriage to a gorgeous, sexy and adoring man. Her career was at its heights, and she had nothing holding her back from true happiness.

Well, except for the niggling sensation she kept having every waking moment. She couldn’t keep her mind on work, and at night when Nick lay asleep next to her, she couldn’t shake off the flashing images that somehow, made her flinch as they tried to pierce through.

So she swallowed any notion of dread and waited on that doorstep, not sure who was going to show up. If it was Mark, well she had nothing to say to him, or his snobbish aunt. As for Trisha, Keyonna just wanted them to talk. She just hoped the other girl wouldn’t be in one of those snarky moods of hers…

Moments later the door flew open and Keyonna found herself looking into the narrowed, spiteful gaze that met hers. And in that moment, Keyonna knew. Like she’d just been smacked in the face, it hit her. Everything came flooding back in a rush of sights and sounds.

Dazed, Keyonna staggered back.

“Keyonna?” Trisha said, her stony expression turning alarmed.

Keyonna shook off the weakening feeling that wanted to overtake her. She grabbed the door ledge for support, and looked hard at Trisha. “I remember everything now. About how you tried to poison my mind against Nick – you spiteful witch.”

Trisha was staring at her. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You can quit pretending,” Keyonna bit out. “It was you who came to me with some bullshit about Nick and his stepmother, so I followed them and caught them.”

Keyonna found she couldn’t continue, not with the horrible images swimming before her eyes.

“You caught them,” Trisha sneered. “Caught them doing what? Is that why you’re here, to pick someone to blame for your husband’s indiscretions? Girl, you’re tripping. Look, it ain’t my fault if your man’s a player. I only laid out the facts as I knew them; just so you wouldn’t go thinking Nick was marrying you for any romantic reasons.”

“You’re a liar! Nick loves me,” Keyonna cried out, as if to reassure herself. “And I love him.”

“Just like you loved Mark?” mocked Trisha. “When Mark came to me, broken up about how you turned him down, I wanted to kill you. Who the hell did you think you were, turning down a good man like that after he kept himself all those years to get back to you? I hated you for the shoddy way you treated him just so you could marry your fancy billionaire. When I found out it was Nick Vitale you were hooking up with, I saw a chance of bursting your bubble, especially since I was sure you didn’t know about him and his dad’s trophy wife. So what happened? You caught them both red-handed, huh, and at your own wedding for that matter. That must have sucked! What a perfect revenge.”

Trisha eyed Keyonna, her smile derisive. “Now you know how it is to be on the sideline. But if you’re here to blame me for the collapse of your marriage, then…”

“My marriage hasn’t collapsed!” Yet, Keyonna added silently. “And I only came because I needed to find out what it was we discussed at the reception. Because crazy as it may sound, I had a recent accident which made me lose part of my memory, especially to do with what happened at the wedding reception. But now, seeing you, it all came back in a flash. I’m sure you must have heard of my disappearance.”

“Yeah, I heard. I wasn’t surprised,” Trisha said scornfully. “Nick and his people tried to act like it was something planned, but I could read between the lines. I knew you’d upped and run for some reason. And I thought, how typical of you. I guess hurting people is your stock in trade.”

“Oh? I thought it was yours,” Keyonna retorted. “Let me clear the air about one thing at least. About Mark; if you must know, I really liked him. Loved him even. But not in the way he wanted. And now, all I can do is pity him if it’s someone like you he ever ends up saddled with.”

“Save your pity for yourself,” Trisha spat, but Keyonna was already turning and walking back down to where her car was parked, legs shaky but heart feeling strangely light. Now all she had to worry about was the next move to take…



Keyonna stepped out of the elevator and unto Nick’s floor, where his secretary Brenda was working on her computer.

“Hello, is Nick in?” Keyonna asked and to her surprise, the bespectacled brunette looked up with a guilty start.